Aasimaar
Race : Aasimar Regions : Mulhorand, Unther, Chessenta The aasimar bear the legacy of a celestial being or even a deity in their ancestry, and have incredible potential to do good in the world. At the same time, their heritage marks them as different and often leads to persecution, ridicule, or exile from superstitious or backward communities. It is not unknown for an aasimar to give in to bitterness in the face of adversity and turn to evil. Run the character concept by a DM BEFORE building this variety. Aasimar are the descendants of humans and some outsider, such as a true celestial, a celestial creature, couatle, lillend, or even a servant or avatar of a good deity. (Some of these creatures must use magic to assume a form that is compatible with a human mate, of course.) While elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings with good outsider ancestry are reputed to exist, those crossbreeds are not true aasimar. Aasimar understand that they are special, even if they do not understand their true heritage. Many aasimar from a latent bloodline don't even know what creature engendered the line in the first place. Two aasimar from the same bloodline often have the same distinguishing feature. Physical appearance Aasimar look human except for one distinguishing feature related to their unusual ancestor. Aasimar have the same life expectancy and age categories as humans. Some examples of these features (and the ancestors that cause them) are : golden eyes silver hair emerald skin (planetar) feathers at the shoulders (astral deva, avoral celestial, planetar, solar, trumpet archon) feathers in hair (avoral celestial) pearly opalescent eyes (ghaele celestial) powerful ringing voice (lillend, trumpet archon) silvery or golden skin (solar) iridescent scales in small patches (couatl, lillend) Outlook Most aasimar are wary of their human neighbors. Even those raised by parents who understand their heritage cannot escape the stares of other children and adults, for humans fear that which is different. Aasimar usually experience a great deal of prejudice, which is all the more painful to the good-inclined aasimar who truly wants to help others survive in a hostile world. Aasimar are often seen as aloof, when in many cases this is a protective measure born of years of misunderstandings. Aasimar often look upon true celestials and other good outsiders with mixed envy and respect. The lucky ones receive occasional guidance and advice from their celestial ancestor, and these aasimar are more likely to exemplify the stereotypical celestial virtues. Because an aasimar's favored class is paladin, a majority of them follow that path, at least for a time. The philosphy of the paladin class resonates in the aasimars' hearts, and they are innately suited for a career championing good and law. Some aasimar, particularly those descended from a nonlawful outsider, instead become clerics, since they are naturally wiser and more charismatic than most humans. Even aasimar who don't becone divine spellcasters gravitate toward divine-related classes such as the divine champion, for the call of the light is very strong. Not all aasimar live up to their potential. An aasimar blackguard or sorcerer of evil is a terrible opponent, and deities such as Shar and Set love to corrupt an aasimar, turning her into a bitter, angry creature nursing old grudges from unjust persecution. Relations with other races Although aasimar are mostly human, they rarely feel like they fit in among human society. Instead, they get along best with other halfbreeds - namely, half-elves and half-orcs - because they and aasimar share the same sort of semi-outcast background. Dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings are neither embraced nor shunned by aasimar, for while these races have no history of persecuting the planetouched, they don't have a reputation for sheltering them either. Genasi of all types are too alien compared to an aasimar to elicit sympathy or a sense of kinship. Tieflings are the one race that garners the most suspicion from an aasimar, for those touched by the holy understand its calling and therefore can guess what sort of temptation those with unholy blood must hear. Tiefling Regions : Mulhorand, Unther, Thay. Carrying the taint of evil in their very souls, tieflings are persecuted and feared in most parts of Faerûn. Those with gross physical alterations are often killed at birth, and even those with less noticeable physical traits are sometimes killed by their own horrified parents. Occasionally a tiefling is born to someone indifferent to its appearance, determined to redeem it, willing to exploit it, or evil enough not to care about its nature, and these tieflings are most likely to survive to adulthood. Most tieflings are evil, but a few have managed to overcome their bloodline’s influence to make their own choices about good and evil. Tieflings are the distant descendants of a human and some evil outsider, such as a demon (usually a marilith or succubus), devil (usually an erinyes, gelugon, or pit fiend), night hag, rakshasa, or even a servant of an evil deity (some of these creatures must use magic to assume a form that is compatible with a human mate, of course). Tieflings look human except for one or two distinguishing features related to their unusual ancestor. Tieflings have the same life expectancy and age categories as a human. Some examples of these features (and the ancestors that cause them) are: small horns on head (demon, devil, night hag) fangs or pointed teeth forked tongue (demon, devil) glowing red eyes (demon, devil, night hag) cat eyes (rakshasa) more or less than 5 fingers (demon, devil) goatlike legs (devil) hooves (devil) non-prehensile tail (demon, devil) furry, leathery, or scaly skin (demon, devil, rakshasa) red skin (demon, devil) bruised blue skin (night hag) casts no shadow (demon, devil) throws no reflection (demon, devil) skin is hot to the touch (demon, devil) smell of brimstone (demon, devil) Tieflings are aware at an early age that they are different from the people around them, and often have strange urges, desires, or needs because of their evil heritage. Because tieflings are born of many different creatures, it is difficult to tell if any two of them are related, and because many of them come from demonic bloodlines, even two tieflings descended from similar demons or the very same demon might look very different. Outlook Tieflings live as outcasts. Feared for their evil heritage and often acting appropriately to their ancestry, they learn to keep people at a distance and hide that which makes them different. Like all the planetouched, they are different from their own parents; rarely has a tiefling been raised in a home filled with love. Tieflings are bitter folk who expect eventual rejection from even their best friends and easily fall into lives of crime, depravity, and cruelty. Tieflings look upon true fiends and other evil outsiders with envy and fear. Some tieflings reject their tainted blood and seek the light. Not many succeed for long, and far more slide to a comfortable place midway between evil and good. But of the creatures who work to be good, good-aligned tieflings probably work the hardest. Relations with other races Tieflings treat most other races equally—at arm’s length. They are very slow to trust others and always wary of a friend suddenly becoming an enemy. Aasimar often trigger an instinctive fear or revulsion in tieflings, making it difficult for them to work together at all. Half-orcs are the only race tieflings easily tolerate, since they are the only common mixed-breed race that is derided as much as tieflings. Still, a tiefling isn’t more likely to trust a half-orc; she’s just more likely to understand his perspective.